John Cornyn, having failed to force Todd Akin out of race, may help him now

The GOP’s campaign to retake the U.S. Senate has left the door open to last-minute support for Todd Akin, six weeks after disowning the Missouri Republican for his comments about “legitimate rape.”

Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Rob Jesmer, his top lieutenant at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have not ruled out potential campaign support for Akin if the six-term congressman closes the gap with Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and puts Republicans within reach of political control of the Senate, Republican insiders say.

“If the race is within 10 percentage points, does anybody really think those threats to cut support are real?” says Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute. “Would John Cornyn sacrifice a chance at the Senate majority on the principle that he disagrees with Akin on rape and abortion? The money will come in.”

The NRSC, which is headed by Cornyn, has raised $81 million and spent $52.2 million to help elect GOP Senate candidates in a bid to gain the four seats needed to overcome the Democrats’ 53-47 majority.

The NRSC is currently financing broadcast advertising for GOP Senate candidates in Montana, North Dakota, Indiana and Maine with plans to start ads shortly in Wisconsin and Virginia.

The NRSC has $28.9 million in cash, according to reports to the Federal Election Commission made public Friday.

The calculation about supporting Akin remains “pretty much a business decision,” Cornyn said in comments confirmed by his staff.

“I just think any money we would have to spend there (in Missouri) would be money we would have to pull away from other close races around the country which I think have a greater probability of electing a Republican senator.”

But the NRSC all but endorsed Akin on Wednesday, without publicly promising money. Donations to Akin’s campaign at this point would not be publicly disclosed until after the Nov. 6 election.

“Todd Akin is a far more preferable candidate than liberal Senator Claire McCaskill,” Jesmer said in a statement.

McCaskill has led Akin in six of the 10 statewide polls conducted since his comments Aug. 19.

Akin’s description of “legitimate rape” remains “unacceptable,” McCaskill said Friday, adding that other GOP candidates “are really going to be in trouble if the national Republicans now go back on their word and come in here (to Missouri) and try to fund Todd Akin.”

GOP campaign officials’ willingness to crack the door to potential campaign support for Akin contrasted to Cornyn’s tough declaration in late August after Akin made incendiary anti-abortion comments on Aug. 19.

Asked during an interview by a St. Louis television station whether a woman who became pregnant due to rape should have the option of abortion, Akin rejected abortion.

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” said Akin. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

[...] place that fosters growth in the present as well as the future.”Despite the confident rhetoric, Cornyn backed off claims that the RNSC was “done” with disparaged Senate candidate, Todd Akin, last week.Cornyn [...]